Marvel's on fire with Iron Man 3, Avengers 2 and the promise of Doctor Strange

David Konow, 6th May 2013

To the surprise of no one, Iron Man 3 was a huge hit this weekend. How huge? Well, how about the second biggest opening weekend in box office history?

When we saw a poll that claimed Iron Man 3 was the most anticipated movie of the summer, we weren’t so sure, especially considering the last Iron Man wasn’t that great, but Tony Stark is indeed back, bigger than ever.

As the Hollywood Reporter notes, Iron Man 3 took in $504.8 million overseas, and $175.3 million this weekend in the States, putting it just behind the opening weekend of The Avengers. This is getting the second phase of Marvel movies off to a big bang, and Kevin Feige, the President of Marvel Studios, has given the fans several updates on Avengers 2, which is due on 2015, as well as Doctor Strange, which has been rumored to be part of Marvel’s third phase of superhero films.

As we previously reported on TG, the phase two Marvel films are apparently interweaving with The Avengers, and their plots could intersect with the Avengers story arc. Whedon has been working on the Avengers 2 screenplay, and it currently has a potential February start date in England. Whedon will also be consulting on the Marvel phase two films, as well as the upcoming S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show.

In regards to Avengers 2, Feige told Collider, "Joss has said it in the past, it’s not about going bigger. You want to up the ante, you want to exceed people’s expectations, but I think there are various ways of doing exactly that." Just as Iron Man 3 went deeper with the characters, along with giving the audience more slam bang action than ever, Feige also promises Avengers 2 will have strong character development as well.

"Why we hired Joss Whedon in the first place is the interaction between the characters," Feige said. "That’s more fun to us than the massive action scenes that are going to have to come with it…we’re going to have to be clever and raise the bar, but already the scenes that Joss has of the characters sitting around and interacting are hilarious, awesome, moving, and a notch or two above the first movie…to me that’s where you want to top yourself."

Feige also confirmed to Collider that Doctor Strange "is something that I talk about often and it’s sort of next up for us to dig into and explore. Now that Iron Man 3 is finished, some of our quote-unquote spare time is going to be devoted to trying to crack Doctor Strange." So will it be part of Marvel’s third phase of movies?

"As we look past 2015, past Avengers 2 and Ant-Man, I think Dr. Strange should be one of the next movies in the years following that," Feige said. So we could indeed finally have a Doctor Strange movie down the road, one of the great Marvel characters that has yet to make it to the big screen. In the meantime, there’s still plenty of Marvel awesomeness to come in the next two years, and Iron Man 3 is just the beginning.